Albus Potter and the Shadows of the Night Council
by jaykethornton
Summary: Albus potter is just your ordinary 11 year old Wizard about to head off to his first year at Hogwarts. I have a long term story arch in place. Please R&R.
1. The Potters

_**First off, these first 3 chapters are a slightly edited version of 3 on a fic on my (extremely) old account that I have lost access too. So if an admin sees that please PM me so we can sort something out, I would be happy to see them taken down. Secondly, please read and review any readers, I'd love to hear what you have to say. The first 4 chapters will be uploaded daily before we go to a weekly release schedule, this is due to the bulk of them already being written and me just making a few small changes as my story's conclusion has changed drastically since it was formulated 2 years ago. A lot of thought has gone into the series and I hope you enjoy it.**_

_**Finally, I would like to get some unique cover art for this story, If anyone who reads this is a capable artist please PM me, in return for some good artwork I will let you in on all sorts of secrets in relation to my story and also perhaps allow you early access to some of the chapters, but we can sort that out via PM. You also, obviously, would receive credit for your work.**_

_**Also I have made one major and one minor change to Quidditch, a capture of the snitch is in my canon worth 57 points as opposed to the 150 in Harry Potter cannon. Also the tournaments now are more similar to a real world competition with points being awarded primarily for winning as opposed to scoring, and having things like play-offs and grand finals. There are 2 reasons for this, the first is it makes the sport a ten-fold more interesting in my opinion to read and to write, as now there is more than 1 important player on the pitch, though the seeker will still make a massive impact as not only do they score the equivalent of between 5 and 6 goals but they still decide when the game ends (it was originally 55 but it seemed much more wizardly for some reason at 57, a seemingly arbitrary number). The second reason is that now that muggle-born wizards are becoming more prominent and respect is higher for them they will begin to make an impact on the Wizarding world such as exposing the flaws of a sport like Quidditch.**_

"Stop it James, you'll end up knocking her off her broom," Albus yelled from across the pitch.

Albus had been playing 3 on 3 Quidditch with his family all holidays, but lately James had been consistently ganging up on Lily with Hugo to steal the ball in order to keep his team in the contest. As much as James hated to admit it but Al could outfly him quite easily and Hugo trying to cover Teddy was an even bigger mismatch.

Albus roared across their makeshift pitch on his Firebolt 2, searching for a flash of gold that would indicate that he had sighted the snitch. He had caught it in every game for the last 4 hours and the only reason that they were still out here was because every time he lost his brother would let go of the snitch and force them to begin a new game.

Out of the corner of his eye Albus saw a flash of gold and he quickly turned his broomstick and lowered his body parallel to the handle and he shot at the flash like he was out of a cannon. James saw Al's move and quickly followed him but he was too far back to possibly catch Albus who was much faster with his lighter frame and smaller profile. Albus was just about to fly the final few yards to the snitch when he decided to just let James win so the game would finally be over. He lifted his torso just a few degrees and faked a lunge at the snitch, it bounced off the tip of his fingers, and James made a snatch at it capturing it with his left hand.

"And my team wins 87 to 70" James said. But by the time he looked around behind him, after posing to his imaginary crowd, the rest of the family were already halfway back to the house.

Dinner at Arthur and Molly Weasley's was always a noisy affair, a fact not aided by Al's uncle George's famous joke shop, George was here with aunt Angelina and their children Fred and Roxanne who were 16 and 14. Then there were Percy and Audrey who had twin 14-year-old daughters Molly and Lucy. Then there was Charlie who had no kids but was always followed around by the youngest in the family trying to find out his latest dragon stories from Romania. There was Bill and Fleur with there kids Victoire the Head Girl (17, 7th year), Dominique (15, 5th year), Louis (12, 2nd year). Then of course there was Ron and Hermione with Rose who was going into first year with Al, and Hugo who was starting in two years. Then there was Teddy Lupin who was as much part of the family as anyone else. All of the family that had gone to Hogwarts so far had been in Gryffindor except for Victoire who had been sorted into Ravenclaw.

It was only a week until school started so the new Weasleys going into first year, Albus and Rose, were both sitting up the far end of the table talking amongst themselves.

"What if I don't get put in Gryffindor" Al asked Rose, worried that he would get sorted into a different house, namely Slytherin.

"Well my dad might be an idiot about it at first. But your dad would probably be ok about it, I guess. He doesn't seem as prejudiced against Slytherin as mine." Rose replied. "I don't even think I want to be in Gryffindor to be honest. It would be nice to get away from the rest of the family a bit. And Victiore is in Ravenclaw and she is Head Girl. So I don't think it would really matter if we got put in Ravenclaw," she continued, "Whoever decides would have to be insane to put you in Slytherin though, you are a Potter and a Weasley."

A loud bang Erupted at the other end of the table and one of the turkeys had burst into flames. And another one was doing something that kind of resembled the Mexican hat dance around it. Everyone started laughing as Charlie pulled out his wand and pointed it at the turkey and without saying a word it shot a big wad of stuffing out of its arse straight at George, who of course had started the fire showing off to the kids.

Suddenly the whole family had started to talk again and Albus couldn't help but notice his dad and Uncle Ron had stood up and walked into the next room. He quickly stood and followed them out the door under the guise of going to the toilet.

"… And what do you make of it all Harry" Ron whispered frantically to Harry.

"Well I don't like it do I? I'm not ready to panic yet, but these guys are a lot more serious than we thought at first. In spite of their borderline comical names." Harry replied.

"What's so funny about Asmodeus?" Ron asked.

"Nothing," Harry replied, "but if you grew up around muggles you would understand that a criminal named Satan and one called Lucifer, is absolutely hilarious. We just need to find out their real names, and then we will hunt them down. One by one."

"Their real names huh?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, you got any ideas?"

"No but I think I know who will." Ron said excitedly.

"Who?" Harry asked.

"Malfoy." Ron said as if stating the obvious, "His family has always been well connected, especially to dark wizards."

"No not this time Ron. He isn't involved in this at all; he stayed well clear of it. This isn't like the help he gave us with the last of the death eaters where he had been involved in it. This has nothing to do with him."

"How do we know he steered clear of it all?" Ron asked curiously.

"We kept tabs on all of them, what did you expect us to do? Let all of those Death Eaters roam free after all the grief we were put through? Only certain ones who were particularly nasty were given long sentences in Azkaban. Most are free by now. It's sort of sad really but it's the way the system works."

"What ever happened to his old man?" Ron inquired.

"Well. He is still in Azkaban. When they were going to let him go free I said I would resign from my post if they did. He is still in there last I heard. Hope he rots in there, in fact I wish he had been given the kiss." Harry said.

"So he won't know anything?" asked Ron.

"Afraid not, plus from what we can tell these guys are really not Lucius Malfoy's scene. They seem to be targeting Wizards only and completely disregarding muggles. We aren't sure what this is yet, but it is definitely not a reincarnation of the death eaters. We are just going to have to wait until… ALBUS! What are you doing in here?" Harry suddenly realised that Al had been standing in the doorway. "How much did you hear?"

"Well everything, I think. Who is this Malfoy person? Is he at Hogwarts? Does this have anything to do with Hogwarts? Am I still allowed to go?" Albus quickly spat out worried that he might not even get to go to Hogwarts.

"Calm down Albus," Harry laughed before continuing, "It's just a person who has been giving me and your Uncle a lot of grief at the Ministry. It's not a big deal at all don't worry about it. Just go back in to dinner." Albus quickly complied and soon enough he was back around the table laughing at George and Charlie trying to get the two turkeys to fight each other using magic. Stuffing was flying everywhere as the two turkeys crashed into each other repeatedly, until George's was reduced to a pulp.

But he wasn't as interested as everyone else as he couldn't get his head around what his father told him. Ron was an Auror just like Harry, even if he wasn't as good. So why did he seem so much more desperate than his dad to do something about it.

Soon Al's mum came and sat beside him, "something on your mind Albus?" she asked.

"Ah, no mum I am just worried that I will, ahhh, get in Slytherin. Yeah that's it, I'm really worried I won't get into Gryffindor." Albus replied, "and if I get in Slytherin I think James will pick on me."

"Don't worry about it Albus your brother can be a real jerk sometimes, but he's family," Ginny said, "No matter what house you get put in he will always come through for you when the chips are down." Ginny said, "He is a good person. Also while we are on the topic your cousin Victoire was the first in Ravenclaw and if you end up there she will always look after you as well."

"But what if I am in Slytherin?"

"You won't be Albus." Ginny said as if stating the obvious.

"Why not?" Al asked.

"Because no one from our family has been in any house other than Gryffindor." Ginny said.

"Except Victiore." Albus replied.

"Yeah exactly. It won't happen, trust me." Ginny turned away and walked back to the Adults now conversing at the other end of the table.

Albus wasn't convinced and he continued to worry about it at the far end of the table for the rest of the night by himself. Soon enough Percy was the first to leave the table, and the rest of his family followed quickly behind him. The first family leaving was seen by the rest of the Weasleys as a cue that it was ok to go to bed. Soon Albus was sitting at the table in a dark room all by himself.


	2. The Bristol Banshee

_**Hey, just a little note to begin here. Chapter 3 should be posted by tomorrow, however due to the more serious changes and additions to this chapter than I made to the first I think Chapter 4 will require a full week long wait. It is really unfortunate. I would love to be able to keep my initial promise. But it seems unlikely at this stage. Still looking for someone for cover art. If we aren't careful I will have to end up drawing it myself. And no one wants to see that, trust me.**_

Albus woke to the yells of his mother from downstairs. No doubt James had been causing trouble down there again. Ever since he had been little he had been stealing stuff from George's shop. He looked out his window and saw his younger sister Lily and his cousin Rose flying around on their brooms around the house.

Albus made his way down to Breakfast where his father and Ron were talking about Quidditch, "The Cannons are a sure thing for this year's play-offs Harry I can feel it." Ron said excitedly.

"Don't be stupid Ron, a 27 point win over the Arrows is nothing to get excited about and the top 6 teams are worlds ahead of you guys, Puddlemere in particular, I can't remember the last time Oliver let in more than 4 goals in a game, plus the magpies. They have won 41 championships now I think? They have made the play-offs every year since the competition was expanded to 15 teams. And on top of that Albert Lennard is the best seeker in the world at the moment."

"Wood is old and slow now Harry, surely you see that? And the Pies have that nutty Maddock as coach. He keeps saying that his team will be unbeatable when they get the skills from that game football right. But since when has any muggle things worked in the Wizarding world. Remember when the idiot kicked the snitch? Cannons will have to get top 6. They have an easy draw compared to the Kestrels. I don't really care as long as we don't come last again this year, and as long as the Tornados don't win."

Albus really didn't care how any of those teams went he just wanted to hear how his dad expected his team, The Bristol Banshees, to fare over the coming season. Luckily for him his father and Ron were far from finished talking.

"I wouldn't right off the three newest teams from claiming their first championship yet either. That John Arthur for the Armagh Raiders is an absolute gun. Also the Banshees and the Kings are outsiders. Especially as the Banshees have those two Australian kids Tyrone Battle and Luka Doolan. Did you hear what they did to the Bat's defence last week? They could have one by a thousand if Krum hadn't caught the snitch within 20 minutes and they still won 167-0. The Kings have that beater Lux Raynor, people fear for their life against him. He is an animal." Harry was clearly annoyed with his friends' inability to see that the Cannons had no chance of winning the League.

'Yeah maybe you are right. I probably shouldn't get my hopes up again this year. What game are you thinking of going too this weekend? I really want to see the Cannons play the Kings. Though Puddlemere United verse The Montrose Magpies clash is enticing, especially as they will possibly be the two teams that will be playing each other in the final this year."

"Ginny wants to see the Holyhead Harpies game against the Bats. So I might go with Lily to that because Ginny will be down in the sheds with the girls no doubt. They are a real play-off shot this year. They're outsiders for the top two spot even. They haven't been up that high since Ginny and Katie Bell retired."

"So who are your pick for the championship dad?" Albus piped in as soon as he realised this conversation was beginning to stray into teams he had no interest in.

"I really don't know Al this looks to be one of the closest years in recent memory. Montrose, Tutshill and Puddlemere look to be the best teams in the league, but the Harpies, Raiders and Bats look to be the best chance for those other spots but if the two Aussies are as good as they looked on the weekend the Heat will be a force to be reckoned with. They are a rough pair too. Apparently they learnt their tackling skills from some muggle sport Ron and it seemed to work pretty well last week." Harry said clearly trying to tease Ron.

"You said it yourself earlier it is just one game Harry. The Heat doesn't have the experience to win the cup this year. A play-off berth would be a good finish for them. My picks for play-offs are United, Pies, Tornados, Cannons, Harpies then Raiders, in that order, have you heard any more on the bids for the new team next year?" Ron said.

"Let's not talk about this now Ron." Harry said with the slightest hint of a grin. "Albus you have to get to Diagon Alley today. Don't forget to get a new broom for Quidditch try-outs."

"I don't know if I want to play dad. James already has the seeker spot and Gryffindor has the Faulkner triplets in chaser. I am too small to be a beater or a keeper so I am not going to get a Start till 4th year." Albus said with the disappointment oozing out of his voice, "can I just get my own Owl instead?"

"If you are sure that is what you want then that is fine by me. Just think about it because you are better than James at seeker. He is only playing Seeker because he can't get chaser. Plus you might not even be in Gryffindor. Just try out Al. What is the worst that can happen?" Harry said trying to convince his son that playing in his house team was a good move.

"Ok well I really want an Owl. Can I get both?" Albus asked getting excited about the prospect of having his own owl as well as this years new Firebolt Supreme model.

"Ask your mother Al. You really have to get going. The others left over an hour ago. Ron will drop you off to the others on his way in to the ministry."

Not too much Later Albus was trotting around Diagon Alley with his cousin Rose. They had had a busy day and were just chatting Albus had grabbed all his books, his owl, which was a jet black barn owl he had named Morgana, and soon enough he was in Madame Malkins getting his school robes. As the woman was rushing around grabbing his robes for him Albus heard a noise as the door swung open and a boy with pale blonde hair and cold blue eyes walked into the room. This kid instantly made Al feel on edge. He looked so awkward and proper in his manner.

"So what is your name?" The boy asked casually.

"Albus." Al replied quickly.

"Albus Potter, I assume… You say it almost like if you say it quickly enough I won't hear you. Why is that?" The boy asked with a smirk on his face, "Well, anyways I am Scorpius, so do you know what house you will be in at Hogwarts?"

"Gryffindor I guess," Al replied. "The rest of my family is in Gryffindor, but sometimes I think that I would be better off in a different house then the rest of them so I can be my own person for once."

"You could always come to Slytherin with me." The boy said. Clearly the idea of being in a different house had never occurred to the boy as he talked about the house as if it was a mere formality that he had to be sorted there.

"But that is where all the evil wizards come from!" Albus said startled that this boy didn't seem to know about all of the bad wizards from Slytherin.

"Do you think I am evil?" Scorpius asked him, clearly unsure as to what Al was getting at.

"Well you seem alright. That doesn't change the fact that Voldemort was from Slytherin. I am sure you would have heard about him." Albus said finally hoping that this boy would see his error and not go to Slytherin.

"Grindlewald was best friends with Dumbledore who was in Gryffindor. Every house has had their nutty students; the Slytherin house just outputs more dark wizards because we are the most ambitious house. I mean it is what we get selected on." The boy said as if he had no further interest in talking on the subject. So Al spat out "What team do you support in Quidditch?"

"The Bristol Banshees" Scorpius replied. At that moment the conversation took off and they talked about the team and the two new superstars in the team who were looking like turning their team into a superstar outfit.

"Hey, after I am done here I am going to go and buy a new broom, do you want to come and look with me?" Albus asked.

"Sure, what type are you going to get?"

"Well dad wants me to get a Firebolt, my family have always ridden Firebolts. Except for my brother." Al replied.

"I thought you wanted to be different to the rest of your family?" Scorpius asked with the slightest hint of his signature smirk.

Albus heard the door ring and saw his mother walk into the shop. He saw the look of concern wash over her face when she saw the boy he was talking too and then she quickly ushered him out of the building. As his mother dragged him out of the shop he looked over and saw the boy with a bemused grin and somehow he knew that he had made his first friend for Hogwarts, even if he was going to be a stinking Slytherin.

"Mum, Scorpius is coming with me to look at brooms, I have to go back and wait for him." Albus said.

"No. Dad has organised a surprise for you at Broomstix." Ginny said.

"Broomstix? I thought I was going to shop at QQS?"

"You were, until someone contacted your father to organize this for you. This is much better, trust me."

Albus and Ginny popped through the door when Al saw that three men where waiting in the shop with his father and the shopkeeper. He instantly recognised the men, they were Viktor Krum, Luka Doolan and Tyrone Battle, his favorite Quidditch players.

"Hey Albus how are you mate," Luka said, "we heard you are looking for a new broom. And we also bought you a gift" and he reached into his backpack and pulled out a giant poster, it was all of the 7 players from this years Banshees line-up, and it had all of their signitures.

Albus looked up to his father who had a big cheesy grin on his face before he knelt down and whispered to Albus, "I have to borrow Viktor for a little bit, but Luka and Tyrone are going to help you pick a new broom." With that Harry turned and left the room with Krum.

"Righto Albus mate, basically you have six choices. You have the new edition of the Firebolt Supreme, it is probably the second slowest of the top line brooms, but it has some amazing handles, you can turn on a knut on this one. It is the best broom for chasers and is great for larger seekers like Viktor. You have the Starsweeper XXIV, like your brother, it is slightly faster than the Firebolt, however it doesn't accelerate as quickly as it. It also takes a lot of strength to turn it sharply. It is mostly for beaters or a guy like your brother who has a bit more strength than you. You have the NiYajirushi it's a Japanese broom so it tends to handle really well with a lot less weight on it. It has the second highest top speed on the market right now. Again though the acceleration is not ideal. Cleansweep 16 is the best keepers broom it accelerates extremely fast but its top speed is rubbish compared to the others. Nimbus 2500 is next and it is fast. It is the second fastest broom, with probably the second best acceleration as well. It is going to be really popular with European seekers at the next World Cup. Then last but not least we have the Thunderbolt VII, This broom is the fastest, it has the best acceleration, it handles probably the worst of the bunch because people tend to overseer on it and this makes it an extremely dangerous broom to ride, but when it comes to high performance this is the broom to get. It isn't in stores yet, but we can get you one if it is the broom you want. There is your options mate, so what are you thinking?"

"Well I am a seeker." Albus said.

"So you want to look at either the NiYajirushi, the Nimbus or the Thundebolt then. We can side-along apparate you too Bristol Arena and you can have a bit of a fly around on them. Your dad said it was ok."

"Lets do it then." Albus replied and he closed his eyes.

By the time Al opened his eyes he was in the middle of the stadium where he came to watch his team play so often, seats for hundreds of thousands of Wizards cascaded around him from every direction. Luka stayed with Albus while Tyrone ran off to return a few minutes later with a large bag and a box that contained all the balls for Quidditch. Luka reached into the bag and pulled out a broom. It was light brown in color with golden stirrups and it had Nimbus 2500 emblazoned on the handle in gold writing.

He handed it to Albus who kicked off of the ground and roared upwards. He looped around the pitch a few times carelessly before lowering his body as close as he could to the handle and angling his broom downwards causing him to shoot towards the ground at an extremely fast pace. Before leveling out and gliding casually back towards the two young men near the center of the pitch.

Luka gave albus a nod of approval before he pulled out a second broom. This one was made of an extremely pale wood. So pale it was almost white and it had crimson accents on the silver stirrups and a red tail. Their was some red characters down the handle which Albus couldn't read. "This is the NiYajirushi Albus." Tyrone said when he saw Albus looking at the characters.

Albus took the broom and flew around the pitch the exact same sequence as he did before, he had no idea what Luka had been talking about the two brooms felt remarkably similar, the difference between them must be absolutely negligible.

Finally Luka pulled the Thunderbolt VIII out of his bag. It had a jet-black handle and a pale yellowing tail. A small yellow insignia was on the very top of the handle, it was a cloud with 'VIII' inside of it and a single lightning bolt coming out of the bottom. "One really cool feature this broom has is that the colour of the tail is actually an enchantment, so you can change it whenever you want. All of the professional players using it are expected to have it the colour of their team but it is still a cool little thing to have. It is an Australian broom, the original Thunderbolt was made especially for the Thundelarra Thunderers, the best team from home. Trust me, on your first flight get up really high above the grandstand, just in case." Tyrone said as Luka handed Albus the broom.

Albus hopped on the broom and kicked off the ground. The difference with this broom was noticeable immediately. He lowered his body to the handle and shot at the opposite goal posts. When he tried to turn he was going so fast that he shot out way behind the grandstand and out over the side of the stadium above empty fields, and he was almost thrown off the side of the broom because it turned so sharply. He turned slowly and glided back into the stadium and floated down to Luka and Tyrone. "It's like I saw I had to turn, I went to turn and by the time I actually turned it was too late and I had already shot out of the stadium! This broom is way too fast." Albus said to Tyrone and Luka who were laughing at his excitement.

"It just gets a while to get the hang of it," Tyrone said, "Here we will come up with you."

And with that he reached into the bag and pulled out two more Thunderbolt VIIIs this time they had deep blue tails and he handed one to Luka he then turned around and reached over to the box of Quidditch balls and let out the bludgers and the snitch. He then called over to the field house where the rest of the team was waiting, "Come on guys time for a run through, Albus will replace Viktor and we will play a game of firsts v the reggies." Luka said.

The whole team walked over, as well as the coach for the reserve squad. The Banshees manager who was decked out in fancy blue dress robes stayed sitting on the bench where Al saw his father and Krum were now sitting next to him watching interested. The assistant coach threw the Quaffle in the air and the game began.

Albus decided rather than searching for the snitch he would just shadow the opposing seeker, Jack Hawkins, who he noticed was on the Firebolt Supreme. This meant that Al had him covered when it came to speed. Though he knew he wouldn't be able to compete with the Hawkins in catching the snitch if the game was even he knew that if he could stop him from catching the snitch for a while his team would be able to pull ahead far enough to secure a win.

From his place above the pitch it was hard for albus to keep focus on what he had too do rather than just watching Luka and Tyrone play, they where single handedly dismantling the reserve side. Scoring goal after goal.

The score was 50-0 When Albus saw Hawkins dive at the ground. Al took off after him but he might have too much ground to cover. He was closing in on the back of Hawkins broom, he pulled up level, he saw Hawkins reach out to grab the snitch only inches away from his face. Albus bumped him with his shoulder and the snitch zipped out of his reach. By the time Hawkins had recovered the snitch was gone.

After his team scored one more goal to move 60 points ahead Albus left Hawkins alone to search for the snitch himself. Circling above the top of the game Al watched as Luka and Tyrone scored a few more goals, only conceding one, and his team lead 90-10 and the game was out of reach of the reserve squad.

Out of the corner of his eye Albus saw a glint of gold near the oppositions goal posts. He angled his broom at the flash and accelerated towards it. Hawkins was way too far away. If the flash of gold was the snitch then Albus was going to catch the snitch. He dodged a bludger that had been hit at him by an opposing beater. Albus saw the snitch just a few feet in front of him and he reached out and grabbed it out of the air.

Albus coasted to the grandstand where Krum and the manager where standing applauding and his father was looking on with a proud grin. Al just wanted to talk to his father, but it was the manager who got over to talk to him first extending a hand and said in an Australian accent, "Albus mate, I'm Jacob Doolan, that was a brilliantly played game of Quidditch, the best I think I have ever seen from someone your age. The decision to shadow instead of going for a catch yourself is one that not enough players make. How did you like the broom?"

"It was absolutely perfect, I have never felt that good up there, and it all happened so… it was just so fast" Al replied.

"Good mate, good. Unfortunately the broom isn't for sale, seeing as it is a prototype, not until after the World Cup next year actually, Where the Australian team will be the only team on them. However I think I can make you a deal. You get a broom but you have too come too our team camps the next two years, and the second you turn 13 you have to come and trial to be part of our youth program. You keep that promise and you keep the broom, until we decide to outfit you with a new one."

Albus looked to his father who nodded at him before he replied, "I think that should be ok, sounds brilliant."

Jacob reached under his chair and pulled out a black backpack emblazoned with the Banshees logo, two midnight blue B's on a silver and green shield, as well as an envelope. "Here is your letter of interest, it has all the details you need to know about our camps that you will be allowed to come too as well as a lot of information on our youth program, we actually have another student at Hogwarts in our program. He has been extremely successful, he is actually in the Brazilian national side, hasn't gotten a game yet though, but we think he is the next real superstar of international Quidditch, just like Viktor here. I discovered him as well actually, while I was working for the Bulgarian Quidditch federation as a scout. He was just a kid playing for Drumstrang. Best thing that has ever happened to me that man… Got me this job too, straight out of those offices in Bulgaria. Well him and my son Luka obviously. Also," he reached into his bag and pulled out four tickets. "I hear your uncle is a Cannons fan. Here is four tickets to the game tomorrow. It will get you in our box. We don't usually sit up there though. We like to get down amongst it in the sheds, so you will probably have the whole box to yourself. There is good grub up there though."

With that Doolan turned away and walked over to the pitch where the team was congregated. Al turned to his father who had not moved from his seat and still had the same proud grin on his face, and they apparated home without a word.

The next morning Albus was shaken awake very early by his father, "Al, there is someone downstairs I want you to meet."

Albus just let out a groan before hopping up and slowly making his way downstairs where he heard his father talking to a man in low voices. When Albus got down to the ground floor he saw an old man with grey hair who was slightly hunched over the table talking to his father in a voice that suggested that this man thought he was better than whoever he happened to be talking too.

"So this is Albus, call me Olivander I am a retired wandmaker. However I agreed to make your family wands as a favour to your father." The man said whilst looking him up and down, "Yes I do believe we can work with this."

He reached down to his side where he had a small pouch attached to his belt and he reached in and pulled out a box that was clearly too large for the miniscule pouch. He opened the box and Albus looked in and saw a wand. Albus reached out eagerly and grabbed it and he was just about to wave it when Olivander grabbed it out of his hand. "That put simply won't do. Here try this one and he reached into the pouch and pulled out a second wand. Here, 12 inches, Hawthorn with dragon heartstring." This process continued for the best part of an hour before Olivander suddenly didn't hand him a wand and looked worriedly at Harry.

"Albus just go get breakfast, okay, we will have you a wand by tonight, I promise." Harry said as Albus quickly ran out of the room to the kitchen where his mother was making breakfast for his brother and sister. Lily and James could clearly tell that Al was annoyed as they didn't say anything instead just sitting there in silence looking down at their food.

Ten minutes later Harry came in and got Albus to come back out and sit at a table with them. "Albus," Olivander started, "I have a wand I believe will fit you but I must admit that another wand maker made it and he created it has similar properties to a wand he got off someone else. I have tried to recreate wands of its quality since I first found it many, many years ago. It is truly a spectacular wand at 15 inches, made of elder and with a thestral hair core."

Olivander pulled it out of the bag and it wasn't in a box. It was a truly beautiful wand with carvings on the bottom of the handle. Albus felt that he should know what this carving was of but was having a bit of a mental blank. Albus reached out and took it into his hand. Almost at the moment he touched the wand he felt warmth spread out over his entire body, radiating from his hand. He waved the wand and a shower of emerald green sparks came out of the end of his wand.

That weekend Al headed to the Banshees game with Ron, Hugo and James. He was the only person dressed in the midnight blue of the Banshees, his family where dressed in the orange of the Chudley Cannons. They arrived at the stadium just in time to watch the end of the youth squads game. There is a 2 hour time limit on the reserve grade and youth squads game so they do not run into the time required for the first grade game. The Banshees were leading 170-0 when suddenly there was a chase for the snitch. The two seekers closed in together and then suddenly the Cannon seeker jumped off his broom straight in front of the opposition seeker and grabbed the snitch from right under his nose. The crowd watched silently as he fell towards the ground. Then suddenly the keeper of the Banshees keeper appeared and caught his player only metres above the ground.

The announcers voice rang out across the stadium, "DIGGINS CAPTURE OF THE SNITCH ENDS TODAYS YOUTH SQUAD GAME BRISTOL BANSHEES VICTORIOUS 170-57 OVER THE CHUDDLEY CANNONS, THE YOUTH SQUAD ARE NOW IN SOLE POSSESSION OF FIRST PLACE IN THE NATIONAL YOUTH CUP. AND TODAYS PLAYER OF THE GAME… FROM THE BRISTOL BANSHEES… CAMILO SILVIERA, WITH NO GOALS CONCEEDED IN ANOTHER PERFECT KEEPING PERFORMANCE."

"He is the Slytherin keeper" James said to Albus obviously annoyed at the fact, "Even the Faulkner triplets couldn't score on him last year, and they are in the youth squad for the Magpies. He is an absolute freak."

"How did they not win a game then" Albus asked interested in what was the problem with this Slytherin team.

"Their Seeker was as bad as the Banshees youth teams and their Chasers , they just keep losing close games. He has no shot at keeping his job this year. Especially with this year being the year that Hogwarts select a team to go play against all 11 of the worlds major schools in Australia. I got to go as a reserve seeker in my first year. Hogwarts lost in the final. We will win it this year though I think, with Silviera, Fred, the Faulkners and myself. The team looks really strong."

"WE'D LIKE TO WELCOME EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU IN ATTENDANCE TODAY TO THIS BRITISH AND IRISH QUIDDITCH CUP MATCH. THE COMPETITION LEADING BANSHEES AGAINST THE 8TH PLACED CHUDLEY CANNONS"

The cheers of the crowd reached fever pitch as the Banshees and Cannons flew out onto the pitch.

"AND FOR THE BANSHEES, WE HAVE DOOLAN, BATTLE, CHASE, COPELICK, TESTEVERDE AAAAAAND… KRUM! FOR THE CANNONS WE HAVE CRICK, FALEN, DUHNDEN, BACCARA, WESTERLY, RACKLY AND MORAN"

It was easy to notice that Krum got the loudest cheer out of all the players in either team. He was still regarded by many people as the greatest Quidditch Player in the world and among the best players of all time.

"AND THE BALLS ARE RELEASED! AND THE GAME BEGINS. DOOLAN WITH THE BALL, MANAGES TO GET IT AWAY TOO CHASE WHO PASSES IT TOO… DUHNDEN HE HAS THE BALL AND IS HEADING THE OPPOSITE WAY."

The Chudley chaser was shooting towards the Bristol goals and he put the ball past the keeper. "AND THAT DUHNDEN GOAL PUTS THE CANNONS AHEAD 10-NIL"

Fortunately for Al that was the last cheering his family got to for the remainder of the day as the Banshees ran away with the game. When Krum caught the snitch the score was 367-40.

Once all of the Weasleys who had attended other games had met back up with each other, Albus and his family made their way too a party in a small magical community in Bristol where the fans had gathered to celebrate their fifth straight victory of the season that had catapulted them into outright lead of the competition as the only undefeated team. Suddenly out of the middle of the crowd a shriek was heard and everyone went silent. Albus looked into the place where a small gap in the group had appeared and he could see his father and a man in a black cloak and a strange black mask over his face that made it impossible to recognise him standing over a corpse on the ground.

Out of nowhere the man conjured three swords which shot at harry who quickly transfigured them into a liquid that shot back at the man before exploding into flames. The man waved his wand and the fire formed into a snake and shot back at Harry who made an entire wall out of water in front of him which fizzled the flames out to nothing then formed a wave that shot back at the man who apparated out of the way of the water and suddenly he was gone.

Albus felt a hand grab his arm and suddenly he was back in his own home. He heard a crack before he turned around just missing the person who had apparated him to his home and all was silent. For the first time in as long as he could remember Albus was alone.


	3. Welcome to Hogwarts

_**I am sorry that this has to be here at the top of my story. If you don't want to read it scroll down to the end of the bold. But I would appreciate just a few moments of your time. **_

_**It has come to my attention that their was a rather large amount of grammatical and spelling errors through the first two chapters and though I have tried as best I could I feel there may still be some present in this chapter. I would like to apologize, offer an explanation and promise that once I have the ball rolling on the rest of this story I will do my best to go back and fix as many of these as I possibly can.**_

_**My explanation is simple, these first three chapters are largely the same three chapters that began my previous attempt at this story, albeit with some minor additions and some changes that seem minor but will have far reaching consequences like the removal of one of the other first year Slytherin students. I also added to and/or edited the interaction with Malfoy as well as the entire sequence with the Bristol Banshees (formerly known as the Bristol Heat) This has left the majority of the story so far written by me when I was younger but then added to and edited by me two years later, this has sometimes lead to sentences that are a little disjointed and grammatically incorrect. It also has lead to the first few chapters feeling a little bit like more than one person wrote them. They also come across a little rushed in my opinion which is also something I would like to apologize for. My main goal however was to try and ensure that none of the parts of the old story that had been removed were referenced anywhere. So if some of you see that happen please PM me so I can remove it and update the chapter for anyone else who reads it. This is something I hope will improve in the upcoming chapters.**_

_**I am going to begin adding character info somewhere on my profile. I will not put any info that hasn't already been put in my story on the characters but I will have info on all the OC's even minor ones so that you can easily find information on any of the names that are mentioned in my story. Quite a few names like those of some minor teachers or Quidditch players, will pop up frequently without any major involvement in the plot and I thought it might be something interesting for people enjoying my story. I do this mainly because my Albus Potter is in many ways different to the original Harry Potter stories (and in more ways than just their infinitely poorer quality) It isn't about Albus developing to fight some evil force like Voldemort, make no mistake Albus will develop but he is still just your usual kid at Hogwarts albeit one who we have already seen is ridiculously gifted on the Quidditch pitch. My story will have a lot more focus on all the other things going on in the Wizarding world, I want to explore it all so we can try and get lost in it. Quidditch will also be a lot more prominent which is why I felt the need to change the scoring so that the games would be more competitive. **_

_**So again I apologize and hope you are enjoying our story so far. I also hope that you bear with me on this one while I improve my writing throughout the (hopefully) series. Also please review my story. Even if you only have negative things to say! Provided they are reasonable criticisms they are actually appreciated.**_

That night Al lay in bed and just waited for the loud crack that would signify his family returning to the house with him. A few hours later he heard a loud crack and a lot of talking down in the lounge room, his family was back. He sprinted downstairs where all of his family was talking loudly and looking worried.

"Mum, where have you guys been?" Albus asked.

"What do you mean where were we. We were looking for you. You just disappeared." Ginny replied.

"But someone apparated me home. I thought it must have been you mum. They disapperated before I had a chance to see them."

"Well it wasn't any of us. Looks like you have got yourself a guardian angel Albus, because that brawl was absolutely crazy. We couldn't even dissaperate because we could have brought someone back to the house on accident which would ruin the protection. We had to wait until we had searched for you everywhere before we snuck away to dissaperate. "

Albus returned to his room wondering who it was who had decided to save him and why they had been able to get into their house with the extensive security his family had put in place.

Everyone wouldn't stop talking about how the next few days flew by, but it still felt like a life-time for Al and Rose, but finally it was the first of September and the Potters and Weasleys were all out the front of the Burrow. The ministry had supplied cars to get them into London although Albus wasn't sure why they couldn't just apperate into the platform at Kings Cross like they did last year.

The drive there was quite long and Albus sat in the car in complete silence nervous about the prospect of finally getting to go to Hogwarts. James on the other hand decided to whinge at his mother the entire trip about how slow she was going. By the time they had finally arrived at the platform they all just about wanted to strangle James out of frustration from his nonstop moaning the entire way.

When they arrived at the platform Harry was standing at the gate out the front in just jeans and a white t-shirt. He fit in with the muggle crowd so seamlessly that it was a wonder that the group even managed to spot him. The family all grouped together and made their way towards the archway where Al and James began to argue again.

"I won't, I won't be in Slytherin" Al started to yell back at James.

"James, give it a rest," Ginny said.

"I only said he might be," James said to her with his annoying cocky grin breaking across his face, "There's nothing wrong with that. He might be in Slyth-" James stopped talking.

As Albus knew James was terrified of his mother and felt a small amount of satisfaction seeing that James' regularly cocky attitude was now gone replaced with him just looking at his feet as they approached the barrier.

Finally alone with his parents Albus used the opportunity to finally talk to them without James interrupting or picking on him. "You will write to me won't you?" He asked.

"Every day, if you want us to." Ginny replied.

"Not every day." Al said quickly, "James said that most people only get letters from home about once a month."

"We wrote to James 3 times a week last year." Ginny said.

"And I wouldn't listen to everything he tells you about Hogwarts he's a laugh your brother."

The next 15 minutes progressed at a ridiculously slow pace as the family met with Ron and Hermione where Al had noticed that Rose was already decked out in her school robes with a grin that went ear to ear.

Soon, but not before James had whinged about a few more things, they were all saying there good byes. After kissing his mother Al looked at his father before hugging him.

"What if I am in Slytherin" Al whispered. Harry crouched and looked him in the eyes and said, "Albus Severus, you were named after two headmasters of Hogwarts, one was a Slytherin and he was probably the bravest man I ever knew."

"But just say-"

"-Then Slytherin will have gained an excellent student, won't it? It doesn't matter to us, Al. But if it matters to you, you'll be able to choose Gryffindor over Slytherin. The sorting hat takes your choice into account."

"Really?" Albus asked.

"It did for me." Harry said with a sense of finality about his tone. Albus was suddenly distracted by all of the faces looking at him from the train. "Why are they all staring" Al asked.

"Don't let it get to you," said Uncle Ron. "It's me. I am extremely famous."

Once Al was on the train it began to pull away. Albus began to feel nothing but excitement as he watched his father walk alongside the train watching him carefully, ntil he could no longer see Albus through the steam. Then Albus was alone again, only this time he was on the Hogwarts Express with only his trunk and his whole life ahead of him.

Albus walked along the passage looking for Rose when he came across an empty cabin and decided to sit in here by himself. He put his trunk up on the racks and sat down to read his textbook for potions. Soon another kid who was an obvious first year student came and opened the door. "Hey are you a first year too? Do you mind if I sit here?" he asked.

"Yes, Yes and I'm Albus. Call me Al though." Albus said.

"Cool, well I'm Terry Angleton but just call me TK." The boy was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt with what appeared to be muggle basketball shoes. Tk was a massive kid, heavily built and more than a head taller than Al, although Al was pretty smal. TK had light brown hair that hung around his shoulders and was messy. He had a scar over his right eye starting just below his hairline and stopping down around his right corner of his mouth.

Al and TK sat and chatted as the English countryside passed in a blur and the train gradually progressed along the country. When the lady with the trolley came past Albus went to buy a few chocolate frogs but after realising TK didn't have any money to buy sweets he decided to buy a galleons worth to share, it was something he distinctly remembered his father going on about doing in his first year with uncle Ron. TK just sat there looking as Albus reached over and grabbed a chocolate frog, which he opened and ate. Al looked at him surprised that he had not grabbed anything yet. "Are you alright?" He asked interested.

"What do you mean," TK asked.

"Well I'm not going to eat all of this garbage by myself. Dig in." Albus retorted and watched him reach over eagerly and grab a chocolate frog. After TK ate his second frog he pulled out a card and looked at Albus, "This guy looks a lot like you Al".

"Yeah it is probably my dad," Al explained, "He was a leader in the last Wizarding War. Now he works at the ministry. How could you not know that?"

"Well I grew up in the muggle world. I just was always there. No one that still works there is sure how I got there. I am just glad to be at Hogwarts now."

Albus was surprised. He had grown up in such a tightknit family environment this sort of thing had never even occurred to him as something that happened to people. There was a knock at the door. It was a tall muscly boy who was in black robes emblazed with two badges on his right side one which was silver with a green P on it and a Green and silver one with a big black C on it. "You both would better get changed into robes soon," he said, "We will be arriving at Hogwarts in the next half-hour or so." Then he sat down in the seat nearest the door, "You guys are firsties?" he asked. After they had both replied he said quickly "It'd be awesome to see you guys in the green and silver this year. We need some more kids. Slytherin have struggled for numbers for years. Hope to see you at the feast. If any of you get picked come over and sit with me at the feast I'll introduce you to all the people. Well, my names Camilo anyway. See you fellas later" and with that giant kid stood up and left the compartment without saying another word.

Suddenly the name clicked for Albus. Camilo, he was that superstar keeper from Slytherin. He was wearing a prefect badge like Victoire used to wear except it was green instead of Blue. The other badge must have been Quidditch captain. He couldn't believe a guy that friendly could be from Slytherin. Let alone be the most well known kid from the house. He seemed so friendly. Not at all like James describes him.

Soon the boys were all dressed in their school robes and ready to leave the Hogwarts express and begin their first year at Hogwarts. As they disembarked Albus noticed Hagrid was ready to lead the boys onto the small fleet of wooden boats everyone talked about. When Hagrid saw Albus he picked him up in a big bear hug, "Albus!" He roared, "I haven't seen you in years. I hope your father told you to come down to my hut on Friday for afternoon tea after your classes are finished."

Albus didn't mind seeing a familiar face amongst all the different faces that he was surrounded by and he followed the crowd around a bend and down towards the lake when suddenly a gasp rushed through the crowd. Hogwarts could be seen in the distance. Its huge towers and turrets everywhere each window twinkling with lights.

"Righto you lot, on the boats now. No more 'n four to a boat." He said.

All of the kids scrambled to get to a boat and Albus found himself on a boat with TK and some girl named Eva. They chatted the whole way to the castle. Chatting was a loose term here the girl was just basically ranting on and on about something she had read in one of the textbooks. It really reminded him of his aunt Hermione actually.

They pulled up onto the shore and were marching up the stairs to the castle entrance were Hagrid knocked on the door 3 times and it swung open immediately revealing a wrinkly old man, not much larger than Albus with grey hair and a beard tied into a bow at the end, He was hunched over a staff which he used as a walking stick.

"I brought them all here Professor Baptiste, all safe."

"Good, Professor Hagrid you can go to the feast now. I'll take it from here," As Hagrid walked off the man began to talk, "My name is Owen Baptiste, You can call me Professor Baptiste, Professor or sir. Entirely your choice really. I am head of Hufflepuff house and the teacher of flying here at Hogwarts. I hope we have a nice quick Hufflepuff to take over seeker for us this year because we need some new blood in the team. Don't worry though I will be scouting you at lessons. We need to get our title back off Gryffindor this year, we had quite an impressive string of titles going while Albert Lennard was here. Anyways you guys are about to be sorted," he said, "Follow me."

As they began to walk the man started talking again, "So basically, all you have to do is walk down a path between two tables put on a hat, then boom sorted. He has already done his song because we were running behind schedule today and Headmistress McGonagall hates it when we run late."

The door opened into a great big hall with all the kids looking at the new entrants to the room. They marched down the corridor to the middle of the room where the teacher stopped them all.

"Adams, Tyson" he said and they all watched the boy march down between the tables reaching a stool where the hat was placed on the boys head. After a few moments the hat shouted "Hufflepuff". "Angleton, Terry" TK marched down to the stool picked up the hat and put it on his head "Slytherin" the hat shouted and Al watched as TK sprinted over to shake hands with Camilo and sit next to him. Eva Armit (the girl from the boat) also found herself in Slytherin. However the next kid went to Gryffindor as did the one after, and the one after that, then the next three after that went to other houses before Slytherin got their third student, Caitlin Bachman. Albus couldn't help but notice that the Slytherin table seemed to have a lot less people than the others.

The list went on for what seemed like forever but the group of unsorted first years was gradually getting smaller and smaller. About 30 students later and only two more had gone to Slytherin, with Gryffindor grabbing another 13. "Malfoy, Scorpius." Albus watched as the blonde boy walked up to the stool where he sat down and before the hat had even touched his head it had yelled Slytherin. He walked right past everyone and sat at the edge of the table about two metres further along from the nearest person. The next few students were sorted and no more had gone to Slytherin until a girl called Erin Oswald headed over and sat next to Eva. "Potter, Albus." Professor Baptiste read out and Albus began to march down the row. He had noticed everyone had gone silent. He sat on the stool and placed the hat on his head.

"Ahhh another Weasley, it seemingly can't be a year at Hogwarts without me putting one Weasley into Gryffindor. You however remind me more of your father than any of your other relatives. He should have been in Slytherin." The hat said to Al.

"But I don't want to be in Slytherin, just put me into Gryffindor with my family."

"I am afraid I cannot do that for you Albus."

"Why not?"

"I see many great things in you Potter, you have a lot of talent. You are Hardworking and love your family and friends, just like Hufflepuff desires. You are cunning and calculating just like any ideal Slytherin. You are bright and think outside the box just like a Ravenclaw student. You are all of these things Albus Potter, but you are not brave and you are not noble."

"Well where are you putting me then?"

"I am sorry Albus but there is only one place for you, you belong in SLYTHERIN" The last word was shouted aloud so that the whole school could hear. Albus stood as the room was in complete shock and made his way over to TK and Camilo who had somehow managed to get the stunned Slytherin crowd to applaud, slowly at first but then growing into an absolute roar. As Slytherin had just got one of their best sorting selections, in their eyes, in a long time. Albus sat down next to TK and looked down at Scorpius who he knew was watching him with what appeared to be a smirk on his face.

The sorting continued with Sebastian Varnham the only Slytherin added on their way down the list. I was only when Rose was called up that every one in the Great Hall went silent again. The Gryffindor house had already had one of their favorite families' students stolen away from them already and they really didn't want to lose a second one as well. They were not to be disappointed as seconds after putting on her hat she was selected for Gryffindor. She trotted off to her seat between James and one of his friends at the Gryffindor table. Soon Professor McGonagall stood for her speech explaining all the areas that were out of bounds before their plates magically filled with food. They all ate quickly, eagerly stuffing their faces with as much food as possible. Eventually Professor McGonagall capped off the evening by telling the school to sing the school song. Everyone sang at their own tune as was traditional and soon the students were being lead to their dorm by their prefects. For the Slytherin first years it was Camilo leading them through the dungeons down to where what seemed to be a dead end was. He stopped in front of the wall and said "Cadmus". The wall began to slide open leaving room for a person to easily walk through.

The Slytherin common room was warm and spacious. It was a place where Albus immediately felt at home in spite of its grey stone walls and it's unnatural seeming green lighting. The room was littered with couches and armchairs and the walls were walled with portraits but the only one that caught Albus' eye was an empty one with a nameplate that read 'Professor Severus Snape'. A fireplace with emerald green flames roared on the furthest wall from the entry. There were large wooden doorways on the left side of the common room with the Slytherin houses snake carved on to them.

Camilo sat down on an armchair and began to talk "Ok everyone listen up, firstly I would like to formally welcome you all to Slytherin house. I hope you enjoy the support and success that I have enjoyed in my time at Hogwarts. You have to realize that although every other house pretty much hates us that it is not your fault and you need to stride to overachieve in everything that you do. Provided you always put in effort neither I nor any other prefect or student in this house will give you a hard time. Now a few house rules. Girls your dorms are on the left of the fireplace. Firsties are on the first floor, second on the second and so on up too the seventh floor. If you are caught on the wrong floor without permission, and believe me you will get caught, I am going to make you do some ridiculously mundane task that no one else wants to do. Now boys are a little different, we have only one floor with seven rooms on it. One for each year level, the firsties are directly in front of the stairs the second years are next on the wall if you were to go around the room clockwise and so on. With the boys our rules are a little more relaxed, as they seem less inclined to steal stuff off each other. Just keep out of each other's stuff and we won't have to go to single rooms. Whoever ruins the system we have I will personally see to it that they are stuck on the top floor. Then they will understand why we wanted year level rooms. Now onto the two doors on the from our common room; the left side, if you are looking from the entrance, leads to the private rooms that are available for prefects and the Quidditch captain. The right leads to a private Slytherin house library that is only available for fifth year or older students, this rule is also not to be broken or you will get a terms worth of detention off of me. That is pretty much all. Do any of you have any questions?"

After no one asked a question the boy continued, "Good, I absolutely hate having to begin your time in Slytherin like this but it just has to be done unfortunately. You guys will have the day off tomorrow to get used to the dorm and also a few tours of the school with our head of house and the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher Professor Milstead, plus you get your new timetables. Also anyone who is interested in joining the Quidditch team this season should come and talk to me, the trials are tomorrow afternoon at 4 o'clock as we have five positions available in the team, every spot other than keeper and seeker are available. The reserve team has all seven spots available. Our team hasn't won a game in 9 years and hasn't won the cup in 26. So I hope to see some of you lot on the pitch for us in the next two years, my final years in the green and silver." Albus couldn't help but notice that Camilo had been staring at him the whole time he was talking about the Quidditch team. Once he was finished talking he stood up and walked off leaving the first years to mull over what had been said.

Once everyone had settled down into the common room Camilo came over to Albus and sat down. "So Albus Potter, Jacob tells me you can play a little bit of Quidditch."

"Yeah I guess I am ok."

"You see, you say you are ok. But he seems to think that you are the most talented young seeker he has ever seen. He told me that whatever house got you this year would have the best seeker at Hogwarts. So I don't need you to trial, the spot in the team is yours anyway. That's why I said keeper and seeker aren't available. I expect you to come to trials as a member of the squad though and I would appreciate it if you would let me fly you through with the applicants for our reserve spot. Only so I can see for myself."

"Yeah I'll come to trials. I was probably going to trial anyway."

"Usually we only let first years onto the reserve squad so they can get a year of training under their belt before we throw them on the pitch, but I am a sixth year now. I don't want to go my whole way through Hogwarts without winning a game let alone a Quidditch Cup. Bring down anyone you become friends with anyway so we can get some young blood in the reserve squad. It is hard to find people willing to play for a team that hasn't won in 9 years"

"Yeah I will try to bring down anyone I can."

"Jacob seems to think you and I will be playing Quidditch together for a very long time and that we will win a lot of games together, I hope he is right."

Albus went over and sat down next to TK and told him, "You are coming to Quidditch try outs tomorrow night."

"But I have never played Quiddich before, I don't play sport at all really, only cricket." TK replied.

"What the hell is a cricket TK?"

"It is a muggle sport."

"What do you do?"

"Well you just hit a ball with a bat, but there is much more to it than that."

"Were you good?"

"I was ok. I was probably the best player at my muggle school. I don't think that will help me play Quidditch though."

"It wouldn't TK. Except that there is a position in Quidditch where all you have to hit balls with a bat. You are going to be a beater."

"But I can't fly a broom Albus."

"I'll teach you the basics tomorrow at lunch. We'll just have to find you a broom to practice on. I am sure Camilo will have access to some."

Once in the dorms Albus noticed that one bed that of course belonged to Scorpius Malfoy already had the curtains drawn and a faint sound of snoring coming from within the curtains. Albus settled at the desk that was next to his bed to begin to write his first letter to his family before he continued reading the potions textbook.

Hey Mum, Dad and Lily,

I don't know if you heard yet but I ended up sorted into Slytherin. It's not as bad as I thought Slytherin would be though because I already have a friend called TK. We met on the train and talked the whole way. He is an orphan just like you were dad. Didn't ever knew his parents and grew up in a muggle orphanage so he didn't even know who you were when he got your chocolate frog card.

The Slytherin Quidditch captain came and talked to me as well, he is in the program at the Banshees so he heard about the other day at training off of Jacob. I am going to be playing for them this year!

James hasn't seen me yet so I don't think he is too worried about me being sorted into Slytherin, I think he will change his mind once he realizes it means he has to play against me this year though. I was a little disappointed that Rose was sorted into a different house from me though but otherwise I am really good.

Keep me posted on the happenings at home.

Love,

Albus S. Potter

Albus re-read his letter before putting it in an envelope and tying it to Morgana's leg, Morgana then flew out the window and off into the dark sky outside. Albus looked down to his desk where his wand was sitting. Carved into his wand coiled around the edges was a snake.


	4. The Slytherin Keeper

**I am proud to announce that I managed to reach my initial deadline of first 4 chapters in 4 days!**

**Again I will open with just a small notice. A tonne of content has been added to my profile page. I highly recommend that anyone enjoying the story goes and looks at it, it has some back story on a few of the Quidditch people that Albus has met that won't ever be mentioned in the story's. It will give you a much more complete view of what is going on in my version of J.K. Rowling's Wizarding world. I also plan to post additional content related to this universe in a separate story in the form of Daily Prophet articles, I am posting one I have already written immediately after this. So please go check it after you have finished this chapter and I am going to post it under the title 'Jayke Thornton's Daily Prophet'. I am thinking that I will aim to have a weekly article, probably posted on Wednesday. And then a chapter posted every second Sunday, if you think that is a good idea please let me know. The articles will be stand alone in that they don't need to be read to fully understand the story, they are just a little something extra for people who are enjoying the series. **

**Otherwise I will focus on just working on chapters of this though I don't think they will be getting posted much faster than they were already. I think that that way it will give me the best opportunity to deliver you the most quality content. I will also edit and add to the content on my profile following the posting of my story each week with all the new info we learn about our characters. Thank you, I hope you enjoy this chapter and please R&R.**

By the time Albus made his way down to the great hall the next morning, with his Banshees backpack that had and enchanted pocket for putting brooms in, he saw that TK had beat him down there and was already eating. Albus sat down beside him and started to butter a piece of toast while grabbing the nearest copy of the daily prophet. Albus turned the paper over to the back and started reading the sports section, the ladder for the BIQL now that all the teams had played six games was printed in large letters with a line under the play-offs cut off point for everyone who read the paper to quickly look over. Albus remembered how much everyone hated it when the play-offs were first introduced, but the excitement that the tournament lead to every year had made everyone fall in love with the leagues new format proposed by, the Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports, Seamus Finnigan.

**1. BRISTOL BANSHEES **_**6-0 **_

**2. MONTROSE MAGPIES **_**5-1**_

**3. PUDDLEMERE UNITED **_**5-1**_

**4. CHUDLEY CANNONS **_**4-2**_

**5. TUTSHILL TORNADOES **_**4-2**_

**6. ARMAGH RAIDERS **_**4-2**_

**7. GLASGOW KINGS **_**4-2**_

**8. HOLYHEAD HARPIES **_**3-3**_

**9. WIMBOURNE WASPS **_**3-3**_

**10. APPLEBY ARROWS **_**3-3**_

**11. CAERPHILLY CATAPULTS **_**2-4**_

**12. FALMOUTH FALCONS **_**1-5**_

**13. WIGTOWN WANDERERS **_**1-5**_

**14. BALLYCASTLE BATS **_**0-6**_

**15. KENMARE KESTRALS **_**0-6**_

The interview of the week was with the captain of last years semi-final Ballycastle Bats side, Jager Tharn, him some question about this years BIQL competition and his teams terrible start, Luka and Tyrone were both mentioned and even Camilo got a quick mention but it was largely just about Albert Lennard and the Ballycastle Bats. Albus didn't care about that at all so he skimmed through the pages looking for anything on his Banshees, but he was disappointed to see that there wasn't any articles on them in the paper. Though it looked like there would be a really good interview with Krum and Lennard in the next week or so.

He turned and spoke to TK, "You still are coming to try outs right?"

"Yeah," TK replied, "I want to come check it out. I could be really good at this Quidditch thing."

"Come on then we will go and talk to Camilo about getting you a broom then."

Albus and TK stood up and walked along the table to get to where Camilo was sitting, he was reading an absurdly thick book called _Quidditch: Training Our Players for the 21__st__ Century by Jacob Doolan_ while he ate his breakfast. Al and TK sat next to him.

"Camilo." Albus said.

Camilo slowly looked up from his book, "My friends call me Cam Albus."

"Oh, right, sorry Cam. My friends call me Al."

"No worries Al. What's on your mind?"

"Well TK here is going to come down to try out for Quidditch tonight."

"He is a big kid. What position does he play?"

"Well that is the thing see. He never has played before. He hasn't even ever flown a broom."

"Well then he isn't going too have much success playing Quidditch tonight is he?"

"Well no. But he wants to come down and learn. It seems like a good place to start?"

"He is welcome to come Al but he won't make any of the teams unless he can fly."

"That's why I was wondering if maybe I could borrow a broom to teach him a little bit at lunch. I would let him ride my Thunderbolt VIII but I wouldn't want him to get hurt flying it. It isn't exactly the safest broom."

"That's a good point. We have a bunch of broomsticks in the common room in a chest behind the couch closest to the door. There is 7 Nimbus 2001's left in there I think, they are still acceptable brooms. We loan them to players on the team who can't get a better broom. You go and look in there, grab one for him and we will see how it goes." Cam finished and looked straight back down at his book.

"Thank you so much." TK said to Cam only receiving a grunt in reply.

Albus and TK ran down to the dungeons to grab one of the brooms. Albus popped it into the pocket in his bag with his broom and asked TK, "Where are we meeting up today?"

TK told him that they were meeting Professor Milstead who would give them their timetables and then take them around to show them all the rooms they would be learning in this year.

Once Albus got to the Hourglasses he saw that all the students in first year where waiting in a muddled heap in front of the Hourglass. All of them bar the six other Slytherin students. It had been made clear to them that they weren't welcome amongst the students of the other houses.

A little bit annoyed at this Al walked over to Rose Weasley, who was standing on the side of the huddle from the Slytherins with two boys he recognised from the sorting as being Jack Stapleton and Ryan Shaw. But before he had a chance to say anything too her Jack stepped in front of him, "Us Gryffindor students don't have to talk to people like you Slytherin scum." Rose tried to speak up in protest but Al had already flared up at Jack.

"I am her cousin you useless Gryffindor git, I just came over to talk to her, not to try and make friends with morons like you." Albus yelled at Jack.

Jack started to back down before realising that he was much bigger than Albus. Once this had clicked for him he decided to go with a new strategy. He socked Albus right in the throat, on his Adams apple, and then he kicked the keeled over Albus in the ribs.

Jack crouched down right next to Albus and whispered into his ear, "You should learn to respect your superiors, you cowardly snivelling Slytherin scumbag."

"POTTER! STAPLETON! What is the meaning of this?" Albus looked to try and find the source of the noise. It was Headmistress McGonagall who had just arrived with the heads of houses, "How can you possibly be fighting already it isn't even halfway through the first day yet. I am taking twenty points off of each of you. And you will each have three detentions together next week. Maybe then you can learn some respect for each other."

"Yes Professor" Albus and Stapleton muttered in unison.

Al stood up and walked back over to the small group of Slytherin students. There were probably 50 or 60 kids in his year and only 7 of them were in Slytherin.

"Now I want all of the students to group up in front of the hourglass of your respective houses." McGonogall shouted.

Once the Slytherin students were all bunched in front of their hourglass Albus had a look at the point totals that were showing on each of them. Slytherin were in last place, with -7 points. Gryffindor were third with 11 points. The other two houses were tied for the lead on 24 points.

Professor Milstead came over and whispered to Albus quietly, "Tonight, after Quidditch try outs I expect to see you in my office. That can never happen again for as long as I am the head of Slytherin house, I expect better than that."

Milstead was a tall lanky man. He was dressed in emerald green robes and wore a dark green pointy hat. He had black high-heeled boots adorned with big silver. His mousy brown hair fell out from under his hat at the fringe and the rest was tied back in a ponytail that was long enough to reach about halfway down his back. He also had a single tuft of facial hair on the bottom of his chin that was barely noticeable if you weren't looking for it.

Milstead went around to the 7 students and gave each of them a timetable. He then told the students to follow him and he walked in through to the Grand Staircase. It was the first time Albus had seen the staircase himself and everything he had heard couldn't lead him to expect this.

"Now you have to be careful in here students, Not only do the stairways move, but sometimes they don't go anywhere, sometimes they disappear, The stairs that I will recommend you take to Defence against the dark arts on the third floor work perfectly most of the time. But every second Tuesday once you open the door to the floor you will find yourself much closer to the Transfiguration rooms on the ground floor." Milstead lead them up the stairs to the first floor.

"You learn History of Magic through this door and on your right. The Teacher, Professor Binns, is a ghost and a bit of a moron. Fortunately for us his class is extremely easy. Make sure to pay attention and anything you need clarified come and see me. You will be sharing your History lessons with the students from Ravenclaw."

The whole of the morning went like this as he them to every classroom they were needed at and told us who they would be there with as well as what he thought of the teachers. They would have Flying with Professor Baptiste, who was head of Hufflepuff, and the Gryffindors. Defence Against the Dark Arts with Milstead and the Gryffindors. Professor Longbottom who was head of Gryffindor house would take Herbology class and the lessons would also include the Gryffindor students. Their last class with the Gryffindors was Potions, which was taught by a pale sickly looking man called Jon Stokely. History of Magic and Charms lessons would be shared with Ravenclaw, they were taught by Binns and Professor Keechly respectively. Finally with Hufflepuff they had Transfiguration, taught by Professor Dippet, and Astronomy taught by Professor Burbage.

Once the tour was over the Slytherin students were free to do whatever they felt for the rest of the day. Usually Albus would probably have just gone up to his room to read, but he had promised to help TK learn to fly so instead he decided to trek down to the Quidditch pitch so he could also teach TK the basics of Quidditch and maybe get in a little practice of his own with the training balls he had been given with his broom and backpack.

"So TK Quidditch is easy to play, hard to master though. There are 7 players on a team. You have 3 chasers, 2 beaters a keeper and a seeker. The Chasers play with the Quaffle," at that Albus opened the chest and pulled out the Quaffle and handed it to TK, "The chasers try to advance the ball and score a goal, worth ten points, through any of the three hoops at either end. The Keeper defends the hoops. The Beaters use bats," again Al stopped talking and grabbed one of the bats out of his backpack, "To hit the bludgers away from their players and into the opposition players, You can't touch the quaffle or the snitch if you are a beater. The seeker, which is my position, has to find the snitch. If the seeker catches the snitch it is worth 57 points and it ends the game. Other than that you just learn as you play."

Albus gave TK a moment to let it sink in before he continued, "Once you get the hang of flying I am going to let loose one bludger and the snitch. I will practice catching the snitch and you can defend me from the bludger. Here grab your broom."

TK picked up his broom, and threw one leg over and sat on it. "Ok that is good, now I am just going to adjust your grip. You want it as far up the handle as you can without being uncomfortable so that you can make yourself the smallest profile possible and go as fast as the broom will allow."

Al watched as TK adjusted his grip slightly once Albus nodded approval of the change to TK he grabbed his own broom. "Once we are up there just fly around. Practice a few dives a few rolls and swing around for a couple of laps of the pitch. Then we will get the balls out. On the count of 3, ready? 1, 2, 3!"

And with that they kicked off of the ground and shot up into the air. Once he was about 60 feet in the air Albus waited for TK who was maybe 10 feet back already to come and join him. "Sorry I forgot to tell you. Once you want to stop you have to sit up as straight as you can so that the braking charm will work." Albus yelled at TK as he shot past on his right side. Once TK had stopped Albus floated up to be level with TK.

"Now when you want to travel as fast as your broom will take you what you want to do is get as flat to your broom as you can and keep your elbows tucked in tight. You have to keep your head up though, to see where you are going. If you really need a boost of speed though dropping your head and looking down will make you go a little bit faster again. Lets practice by flying from end to end as fast as we can a few times."

TK still was uncomfortable on his broom, but he was a fast learner. Half an hour later Al thought he looked comfortable enough on his broom to let him have the bat and let loose the bludger and the snitch.

"When we are up there," Al told TK, "You are protecting me from the bludger. These ones are practice ones so they don't hit anywhere near as hard as a real bludger. It is enchanted to feel like a cotton wool ball when it hits one of us, it will still feel normal when you hit it with the bat though, but when you are playing with real balls they will break bones and cause concussions. That is why beaters are so important. If you can injure an opposition player or prevent one of yours getting injured it can completely change the way the game is played. It is important today though not to watch me, you have to watch the bludger. If you are always in my way as the seeker I will have no hope of catching the snitch, you have to stay out of my way, but in the bludgers. It is just something you have to get used too."

An hour and a half later, after catching the snitch 10 times, it is a lot easier to find without the chaos of the extra 12 players on the pitch, Albus was confident he had TK competent enough that he wouldn't embarrass himself on the pitch later in the afternoon. So after capturing the snitch he flew down to the centre of the pitch and placed it back in the box and tapped his wand on the top of the box three times to make the bludger float back down into it's harness that Al then clicked on so that the ball was trapped into its place.

"That was really good TK, you improved a lot even just in that two and a bit hours. Lets fly up to the castle and grab a bite to eat. Then we can come back down for the try-outs."

When Albus got up to the house table he saw that people surrounded Cam, getting into his ear about the trials coming up in just a couple of hours and trying to guess who the seeker was. Cam ignored them and just kept eating whilst reading his book, he was still nowhere near finished but Al would guess that he had read close to 1000 pages from where he was in the morning when Al had seen him reading.

Albus saw Scorpius sitting by himself again down the far end of the table and indicated to TK to follow him and he walked and sat next to Scorpius and started to make conversation, "Hey Scorpius, are you coming down to the trials for the house team today?"

"Yeah," Scorpius replied, "I might just watch though. I don't think I am good enough to play yet though."

"Oh turn it up." TK said, "I am trialling and I hadn't ever flown a broom 3 hours ago."

"What position do you play Scorpius?" Albus asked.

"Mostly chaser. I occasionally have played keeper or seeker. Those positions are already taken though. I wonder who our seeker is. He has already been selected but the seeker from last year has left and was terrible anyway. So no one knows who it could be. Camilo seems really excited though."

"Yeah. Who knows Scorpius? Me and TK are going to head down to the pitch anyway, trials start in half an hour or so and I want to make sure I am the first person there."

"Potter."

"Yeah Scorpius."

"I bloody hate my name. Call me Scorp."

"Yeah no worries Scorp, as long as you don't call me Potter."

Once Albus arrived at the pitch he was surprised to see that he wasn't the first person down to the pitch he wasn't even the thirtieth. Cam had beat him down here and bought with him a gaggling group of girls who just came to fawn over him as he trained. Once Al got closer to him he was quick to apologise, "Sorry Al, I usually keep my personal training times secret so that girls don't follow me around like this. But I guess they figured that with tryouts on today I would be down here early. I am just about to finish up. Do you want to take some practice shots while we wait for the rest of the house to get down here."

"Sure, just don't expect me to score any goals on you. I am a terrible chaser." Al replied.

"Trust me I don't expect you to score on me. If you do you won't be playing seeker I can tell you that much."

20 minutes later when the first of the house turned up Albus stopped shooting. He had taken maybe 40 shots and hadn't scored on any of them. As they flew down to the ground Albus asked him, "They say you are good enough to play first grade. So how come you are still at Hogwarts instead of playing professional Quidditch?"

"I am only telling you this because one day it sounds like you will be faced with the same decision. When I was 12 I was at a small Wizarding school in Brazil, not Instituto but just a small school with about 20 students, all we ever did was play Quidditch, games, training, we talked about it, we played on rooftops, we played it any way we could. After my anyways while I was 13 Jacob happened to be in Brazil to watch some chaser from Instituto play in one of their games against my small school. I had the game of my life in that game. Unfortunately we lost in spite of my efforts but we only lost 57-40 and I had my first ever perfect game. After the game Jacob was waiting by the sheds and he told me to take him to talk to my parents. My dad left when I was younger so it was just me and my mum and my little brother. He is a first year as well, Rogelio is his name, and he should be down here tonight hopefully. He is a very good little chaser, although he doesn't like playing so much anymore. Anyway he came over to my mother and said that the school I was at was no place for a boy of my talent to be going to school and said that he would get me in at Drumstrang and I would play for the Vultures once I was done. But my mum said no, that Drumstrang was a school where people simply played Quidditch and didn't learn anything else. I thought that was the last we would ever hear of him but he came back the next year. This time he told my mother that he was working for a team in England called the Bristol Banshees. He said that they would let her and my little brother live in the team village until Rog was old enough to go to Hogwarts and that they would pay for us to finish school, because my mother couldn't afford it. My mum had heard of Hogwarts and she loved this school even though until I started here as a third year she had never seen it. She passed away just last year when I was just on the cusp of making the first grade side. She asked me to finish school for her and to be the best Wizard I could be. Not the best Quidditch player. She asked me to be a better man than my father. So I promised her I would finish school and make sure Rog did as well. And she died happy, with her two boys by her bedside. Don't tell anyone this. Rog is still getting over it. He is just a little kid. One more thing as well."

"Yeah Cam anything."

"If you don't finish school you are a bloody idiot."

They landed on the pitch just in front of where the players trialling for the team had assembled. "Hey everyone who came out today, looks like there is about twenty of you which is a really good turn out," and he put his wand on the side of his neck so his voice boomed up into the grandstand, "I'd also like to thank all of the Slytherin house students who came down here to watch these trials and support our team. To anyone not from Slytherin house I would extend to you an invitation to leave immediately before Professor Milstead arrives and gives you all a whole years worth of detention."

With those words the majority of the students in the stands scattered leaving only the Slytherin students left in the stand. It was a really large group made up of mostly girls because only two girls were trying out for the house team. Though it looked to Al like almost all of Slytherin had turned up to watch. There was probably close to 40 students in the stand. When Cam saw Al looking at the stands he whispered in his ear, "There isn't as many of us in this house. So the support we get is really personal which is great. We are all really passionate about representing the house and they love to come out and support us."

"Righto then," Cam said once again putting the wand to the side of his throat, "I have an announcement to make. A lot of you had been guessing who our new seeker would be this year. I am now proud to let you know that the new Slytherin seeker is first year student Albus Potter. He is the first student his age I have ever let play whilst I have been captain. But I have watched a memory of him playing at a Banshee training session over the summer. He filled in at seeker for Viktor Krum and not only did his team win but he also caught the snitch before a professional player for the Banshees reserve side, Jack Hawkins. I feel confident that he will represent our house with passion and ability throughout his 7 years at Hogwarts, he is the 2453rd player to pull on our green and silver robes and represent us on the Pitch."

"Now," Cam continued, "We have to find our reserve keeper. Remembering that you can trial for more than one position, anyone wanting to trial for this spot please step forward."

Scorp, and two much larger boys stepped forwards. "What we are going to do is have you defend the goals. Albus and I will each take 5 shots at each of you. Whoever saves the most will be the keeper whilst we select this seasons chasers. Which will give them more opportunities to impress me."

Albus got 3 goals past Scorpius and two past the other boys. Cam got all 5 of his attempts pass each person in turn. Cam said, "I have decided that you will be keeper for the Chaser trials Johnston. The 7th year student moved to the posts while Cam flew over and talked to Scorpius.

Next the chaser applicants, all 13 of them, including Scorpius who trialled again, each took 10 shots at the goals while the boy Cam had called Johnston defended the goals. Cams brother Rog got 9 past the keeper but none of the others got more than 5. Scorp got 4 in which put him just behind Rog and two other chasers.

Next the beaters stepped forward. There was 7 of them trying for this position. Al crossed his fingers as TK took to the air. Cam released a pair of training bludgers and asked first for them one at a time to defend him while trying to hit Albus. TK really struggled with the defending portion of the trial but he managed to hit Albus with the bludger twice when none of the other applicants managed to hit him at all. Albus felt that TK had done really well. Maybe he would make the side.

Finally Cam asked Al to fly with the seekers. Only 2 other people had tried for the position. Scorpius and a skinny 6th year boy who Albus had seen could barely fly straight in the Chaser trials. "What we are going to do here," Cam said, "Is we are going to release the snitch 6 times. The first three will include Albus. The next three will not. Whoever catches two of the snitches in the second lot of three will be the reserve seeker."

With that the snitch was released and Cam sent them all hunting for it. Without any additional movement on the pitch it was really easy to spot the snitch and Albus had quickly captured the snitch and they were back on the ground. They repeated the process twice more and less than 10 minutes after they had started it was just Scorpius and the boy, who Cam had informed him was Bartleby, out searching for the snitch.

Bartleby caught the next one just over 20 minutes later when it flew up his sleeve. The next one Scorpius made a nice grab at just as it flew into his range. Before the final one Scorpius got 12 other people who had trialled to go up and start playing a game of Quidditch. With all the extra action on the pitch it was much harder to spot the ball, but just over an hour later Scorpius had captured the snitch and had earned himself a spot. Once they had flew back to the centre of the pitch Cam spoke again with the wand on the side of his neck, "You have all done our house proud tonight. I am going back to the sheds to deliberate on exactly how our squad will work this year. I would ask all members of our house to stay in the Grandstand and remain there for our presentation following the selection." Once he removed the wand he said, "Albus, you come with me."

Once they were in the shed Cam pulled out his notebook and said too Albus, "there wasn't 14 players good enough to play out there. There was 5, and two more that I think will be really solid in a years time but aren't ready to play yet."

He started to write on the pad and put in Rog Silvera at chaser, Albus Potter at seeker, Cam Silvera at keeper and Jayden Wheatley and Jesse Cummins at Beater. Then under the heading reserve he wrote the names Terry Angleton and Scorpius Malfoy.

"I know that boy hit you with the bludger twice. But he let me get hit 4 times. The other two defended me really well they just couldn't get a hit on you. He will be a force next year but he isn't ready yet. He still isn't comfortable on a broom. Scorpius might be almost good enough to play, but he is still a first year, I only pick first years if they are head and shoulders above the pack. But the girl who scored 5 goals past Johnston also played some good defence in the game that was going on she is only a second year too and her dad plays for the Chudley Cannons. Then there was one other boy who only scored 2 goals past Johnston but his defence was superb. He will help us slow the Faulkner triplets long enough for you to have time to get to the snitch. They might be able to score on me this year. They spent all of their holidays training with the Chudley Cannons. Their teamwork and communication is awesome."

"So I am giving you a heads up that this is our team." Cam continued, "You at seeker. Me at keeper. Dwyane Rogers, Rog Silvera and Mia Crick at chaser. Jayden Wheatley and Jesse Cummins will be the beaters… And our reserves will be Terry Angleton, Scorpius Malfoy and Blaise Johnston. Now go out and wait in the crowd. I will be out in just a minute, once I have the Robes ready. Oh and give me your broom for a minute."

Albus handed Cam his broom and he tapped its tail with his wand changing the bristles James had turned red for Albus just a few days ago to the green of Slytherin except for the tips of the bristles that turned a sparkling silver colour. "Much better, now go up and wait in the grandstand." Albus went up to the grandstand and decided to sit next to the girl from the boat, Eva Armit, instead of Scorp and TK so that he didn't get interrogated about what had happened in the shed. "I had never seen Quidditch before," Eva said, "I had read about it of course, but it is just so great to see it happen in person. It was really obvious you and Rog were very good by the way, compared to the rest of the guys that were here anywhere."

"Thanks. I had never seen Cam's brother play before. But Cam did say he was good." Albus replied.

"Cam? I didn't realise you were such good friends with him already."

"I think it is mostly because the manager of his Quidditch team wants me to join their development program. He thinks I could be a very good player for their team once I am older."

"That makes sense I guess. A lot of places do stuff like that in the muggle-world. Sell you the idea of playing with your friends so that you don't want to go anywhere else. Eleven seems really young though. Did you really beat a professional player?"

"Yeah. But I had had a better broom than him and…"

"Oh look here comes that boy again. The team is about to be announced.

Camilo came out and put the wand to the side of his neck. "This year we have actually selected 5 new players for the Slytherin House team. I would like to invite our returning player from last year Jesse Cummins, our 7th year prefect, to come down to the pitch his number is 2451." Jesse was handed a pair of green Slytherin Quidditch robes and a Slytherin sports bag.

"The other beater, Slytherin House Quidditch player 2454, is Jayden Wheatley, a third year student." Wheatley went down, shook hands with Cam and grabbed his equipment.

"Our three chasers will all be playing their first games of Quidditch for Slytherin, numbers 2455, 2456 and 2457 respectively Rogelio Silvera, a firsty, Mia Crick, in her second year and also a member of the reserves squad last year, and Dwyane Rogers, a seventh year student." Dwyane Rogers looked very surprised at his selection but by the time he got down and grabbed his gear and had a quick talk to Cam he had a big grin on his face.

"And of course we have me, number 2447, with two more years in the Green and Silver. Last but not least the Slytherin house keeper, number 2453, Albus Potter in his first year at Hogwarts." Albus went down and grabbed his Robes and bag off of Cam.

His robes were all green apart from the Slytherin crest on his left side just in front of where his heart is with the number 2453 stitched under it in shining silver lettering, as well as on the back which featured 'POTTER' emblazoned between his shoulders and a big number 7, the number he had requested from Cam, also both in Silver lettering. His sports bag was also green and silver and had a Slytherin logo on the side, a number 7 on each end of the bag and potter stitched across the top. He couldn't help but feel proud just looking at it.

"Finally," Cam said, "Our reserve squad. I have decided to do things a little bit differently this year. Rather than a whole second team I am simply going to add three players who will do everything other than play games with our first string side. This year the reserves are Scorpius Malfoy, Terry Angleton and Blaise Johnston. I would like to thank all of you who came to watch the trials tonight and invite you all to a celebration in the house common room tomorrow night starting at 7 o'clock, where we will write the names of our five new Slytherin house players onto the green wall in our common room. Thank you."

Cam removed his wand from his neck before he said to his 9 squad members. You guys follow me. He walked into the sheds and gave them all the info about their training for once it began next week. When he wrapped up his speech an hour later Al's tummy was rumbling. But he new that he still had to get up to the castle for his meeting with the Head of his House so he had no time to stop for dinner.


	5. The Wandmaker

Albus slowly made his way too Milstead's office. Usually the DADA teacher would make his home on the second floor. However, due to the fact Milstead was also the head of Slytherin house, his office was down in the dungeons near the Slytherin common room.

Albus knocked on the door and heard Milstead's voice from the office. "Come in Albus."

Once he was inside he saw that Milstead did not look angry. He looked extremely calm in fact. "How was Quidditch try outs Albus?"

"Umm. Good Professor. It was good."

"Of course I knew you had already been selected in the side."

"You did?" Albus asked.

"Of course, I am the head of Slytherin house after all. It is my job too know what is going on amongst my students."

"Am I in trouble?" Albus asked, confused about what was going on.

"Well no. I happen to have also had the misfortune of bumping into Mr Stapleton, yesterday actually, I have actually developed a small… distaste… for the boy. I called you in here because I couldn't let it be seen as if I was ok at what happened. Even if I really don't care if you want to fight him, for your own good I suggest you use your wand next time rather than fists. The real reason I wanted to talk to you was because I had heard so much from you and wanted to meet the man behind the stories first hand."

"You have heard so much about me?" Albus inquired, now even more confused than he was before.

"Yes, firstly, just a few days ago I received an owl from an old friend Garrick, that is Mr Ollivander to you, about your wand."

"Oh, he didn't make my wand." Albus said.

"No he didn't. I did."

"You made my wand?"

"Yes. I was actually hoping it would choose me when I made it. A long time ago," Milstead said, "I was working for a man named Mykew Gregorovich. I do hate telling these stories, they remind me of my age."

Albus didn't know where he came up with that from, Milstead didn't really look all that old. Not much older than his father in fact.

"Gregorovich, like Garrick, was a well respected wandmaker and I was lucky enough to be his apprentice in his last few years before his death. He talked of a wand made of elder and Thestral hair that he had once had in his possession. The most powerful want that had ever existed. He was obsessed with the elder wand, so elder wands were all he would make, we soon had a backlog of hundreds of elder wands that no one would take and all of them were just normal wands. They weren't special or extraordinary. They were just ordinary wands. Eventually he seemed to have given up and he went back to making regular wands, but it didn't last. Just a few months after he made his final elder wand he told me to make my first. So I got to work. Unlike him I didn't try and make the wand quickly, I took my time and obsessed over every detail. I carved the handle carefully and perfectly and slowly created that wand."

Albus saw that Milstead was looking at his wand.

Milstead began pacing before he continued, "When I finished the wand we could tell it was different from all the others. This wand wasn't ordinary. It was extraordinary. According to Mykew it wasn't quite the elder wand but it was the closest thing we had managed to create. However the wand wouldn't work for either of us so after a year of trying everything we could think of, we still couldn't get the wand to perform even the most simple of spells. We decided to hide the wand and move on with our lives."

Milstead paused for moment while he stopped pacing and sat down at his desk, "When Mykew was murdered by Voldemort, searching for the real Elder Wand, around 20 years ago I took our elder wand and came back to fight. Once the siege of Hogwarts had ended and your father defeated Voldemort I sought out Garrick Ollivander to have his opinion on my wand. He was most impressed with my work and offered me a deal, seeing as he was retiring from wandmaking, I could take over his role at Ollivander's and in return he would get to keep the wand I had created. I turned down his deal, because I felt I had to my bit to help bring order to Great Britain, but whilst I was working for your father at the ministry I was approached by Ollivander again. He offered me 500 galleons for my wand."

Milstead sighed and slumped in his chair before he continued, "Unfortunately I agreed to the deal and that was the last I ever heard of my elder wand… Until just a few days ago, I got a letter from Ollivander, the first I had heard from him since he bought my wand actually, it said simply two words, Albus Potter."

Milstead steely blue eyes looked right into Al's before he continued, "I am no Garrick Ollivander or Mykew Gregorovich Albus. Atleast not when it comes to wandlore anyway, but I am quite well learned in the art. That wand, Mr Potter, that wand would only choose a talented young wizard. It would choose a powerful, ambitious young wizard. I expect great, great things from you."

"Just like my father, people always expect things of me because of my last name. I'm not Harry potter." Albus shouted, but Milstead calmly put up a hand to silence him.

"Not at all like your father Albus. Your father is a great man, a wonderful, brave man who is selfless and caring. Your father however is not a great wizard. He is a very, very, very good wizard. Much like myself actually. He is not a Dumbledore, or a Grindelwald, or a Voldemort. I suspect you will be much more like your namesake than you are like your father Albus."

"Oh. Right."

"Once that wand chose you I knew that you would be in my house. And I knew that I would have to keep an eye on you."

Milstead smiled at Al before he began talking again, "The other thing I heard about you is much more cheerful thankfully, on my way back to my office, following the sorting, I chanced across a small owl carrying a letter from Jacob Doolan who is apparently some high up at a Quidditch team in the BIQL. I don't know who he is because I don't very much care for Quidditch, but he seems to think that you are quite the athlete as well. Told me to keep an eye on you. That's all for tonight. I will speak to you again same time tomorrow night, once I have seen you in action at our DADA lesson."

Albus stood up and turned to leave, "Thank you professor."

"Albus, one last thing, Jacob Doolan also told me to clear a place on my mantelpiece for the Quidditch cup this year."

"Oh… Right."

"Make sure he is right would you? It has been an awfully long time since we have won anything. Not since I was a student here actually."

"I'll do my best."

"One last thing."

"Yes, Professor."

"Next time you want to fight Mr Stapleton. Don't get caught."

* * *

Albus made his way back to the common room pondering what he had been told by Milstead. Something about an elder wand, he would have to find out all he could about it. His father wouldn't know, Albus didn't know him to be particularly knowledgeable of wandlore, so he would have to do it by himself.

Once he was inside the door at the common room Albus saw that it was empty except for Scorpius, TK and Eva who had stayed waiting for him. "Nice job you guys," Al said smiling at his friends, "I am glad all three of us got in."

"Who cares about that," Scorpius said, "How was Milstead? My dad says he is a brilliant wizard. One of the most powerful left after the war."

"Oh…" Albus said thinking to himself, "It wasn't too bad. I have another detention tomorrow night though. He seems really serious about the house cup though, really annoyed I lost points for it."

"Well you can hardly blame him," TK said, "I have known what Slytherin is for like 24 hours and I can already see that we would come last every year, we would be lucky to have half the people of the other houses."

"It is only since the war," Scorpius said, "my dad said that when he first came school Slytherin was the most successful house there was, it is only since then that Slytherin has became so unsuccessful and unpopular."

"Oh, Ok…" TK said, "I am going to go to bed."

"Yeah I will too," Scorpius added.

Once they had stood up and left Eva looked Albus right in the eyes, she had emerald green eyes just like Albus, and she said, "I can tell you lied to them about Milstead, I don't know why though."

With that Eva stood up and went to her dorms leaving Albus in the common room by himself.

* * *

The next morning Al and his classmates headed down to the great hall for breakfast, it was their first day of lessons and they were all extremely excited to get started. They had DADA first, then Herbology then finally in the afternoon they had Transfiguration.

After they had all eaten they made their way up to the DADA classroom on the third floor.

Once they were all seated Professor Milstead stood up and began to speak. "Who here has brought with them _The standard book of spells Volume 1_?"

Once he saw everyone had raised his hand he continued, "Good, good. I want everyone to put that book back in their bag and get out there wands please. You won't need that book at any of my lessons, I do however recommend you learn the spells contained in that book on your own time, if they are not covered in your charms class."

Once everyone had their wands ready Milstead spoke again, "Defence Against the Dark Arts, the thing I hate most about this subject is that name. The thing about the Dark Arts is that it is such a broad term, No one ever can define what they mean by dark arts, they often say it is magic that can be used to cause harm to others. That is great, causing harm to others is bad, but _stupefy _can cause harm to others, yet it is one of the most commonly used spells by Aurors and all sorts of wizards who would never be accused of dark magic."

"So what is the difference between dark magic and 'light' magic? Can anyone tell me?" Milstead asked.

Rose's hand was the first in the air.

"Yes Miss Weasley."

"Is it curses and hexes? Magic used to hurt others?"

"No. Anyone else?"

Albus thought he knew the answer so he raised his hand. Milstead smiled when he saw Albus' hand raised "Good Mr Potter. What do you think is the difference?"

"Is it the person holding the wand? What they are trying to achieve with the magic?"

"Almost but there is one more tiny detail, any idea?"

"Ahhh," Albus continued, "Well my dad says a lot of dark magic is simply stuff that the everyday wizard or which doesn't understand."

"Correct Mr Potter, have three points for Slytherin, one for each correct answer you gave me." Milstead continued, "The only difference between dark magic and light magic is the person holding the wand, what they achieve with the magic and the publics perception of him. Therefore what I am really teaching you is not Defence Against the Dark Arts, what I am teaching you is simply defence. These spells and strategies would work equally well defending yourself from a 'light' wizard."

Milstead paused as he walked over to his blackboard, "We are trying to learn two spells today, neither of which are recommended to be covered in the first year syllabus. However I feel that thought they are not the most simple spells I will teach you this year one of them is the most important you will ever learn. It is actually usually not taught until the fourth year. Something that makes no sense to me. You may not manage to perform either spell but we will continue practicing until you learn to do so."

Mistead began to write on the board, "Today we are learning, _protego_, the shield charm, and _flipendo_, the knock-back jinx. With these you will be able to defend yourself and to attack, in its most simple form. When performed correctly _flipendo _is very similar to throwing a punch in a form of combat that Mr Potter and Mr Stapleton are all too familiar with. _Protego_ on the other hand can be used to deflect spells or to absorb them. Partner up."

Al walked over to TK but Milstead spoke up again, giving Albus a wink, "Not with him Mr Potter, fortunately for you there is an odd number from each house. You will be partnered with Mr Stapleton".

Once everyone was paired off Professor Milstead continued his instruction, "The wand movements are simple, _flipendo _uses a stabbing motion like this," He demonstrated the movement, thrusting his wand forward before he continued, "_Protego_ uses a circular motion like this. First student to perform a successful knockback jinx receives 10 house points. Anyone who can perform _Protego _can have 20."

Once he had demonstrated both movements again he nodded his head and sat down at his desk, "Begin."

Albus looked at Stapleton and said, "You first Stapleton."

"Ok potter, FLIPENDO" Stapleton yelled the last word, but nothing shot out of his wand and Al's shield charm he had managed to conjure went to waste.

"Very impressive Mr Potter." Milstead started, "That is 20 points for Slytherin. Very impressive indeed. I suppose it is your turn to perform the shield charm Stapleton, good luck."

Now Stapleton looked very afraid at the prospect of Albus attacking him, but he tried not to show it as he got ready to try and perform the shield charm, "FLIPENDO!" Albus yelled as he stabbed his wand forwards and a massive blast of blue light shot out of his wand, colliding into Stapletons chest and throwing him across the room and into the wall on the far side. He slid down the wall and lay on the ground unconscious. The seven Slytherin students burst into laughter and the Gryffindor students looked on in horror.

Milstead spoke up, "That is another 10 points for Slytherin. However I think that young Jack here has had more than enough practice with you Mr Potter, you can work with me for the remainder of this lesson. Weasley!"

"Yes, Sir." Rose piped up.

"Once Stapleton comes too he will work with you and Mr Shaw."

Once everyone had resumed working and "Albus, your shield charm was extremely impressive, especially on your first try, but it was also way too big, stuff like that will cut it when you are with other people your age, but when you are duelling it is much quicker to conjure a smaller shield, these fractions of a second add up and can be the difference between life and death. Smaller shields also will deflect the spell rather than absorb them as you still have the same amount of shield, just in a smaller area, or in proper magical terminology more dense. This means that you can quickly get off the defensive and begin attacking. So I am going to cast _expelliarmus_ at you and I want you to work on trying to block with a small shield and to deflect them at me."

The entire class practiced for more than an hour and the only other person who managed to cast a shield charm was Eva, Rose, Scorpius and Eva managed to perform the knock-back jinx though. Albus managed to deflect a few of Professor Milsteads spells, but he never managed to actually hit him, mostly he spent the majority of the lesson picking up his wand, due to the fact that Milsteads spells would quite often disintegrate his shield on impact.

Professor Milstead signalled for the class to stop, "That is a very good first lesson for all of you. Eva will receive 20 points for her shield charm. Scorpius and Rose will receive a point each for their knockback jinx. That is all for today."

Before Albus left Milstead whispered in his ear, "I still require you to join me in my office tonight. Come at 5 and bring Miss Armit."

* * *

On the way to Greenhouse 1, where their Herbology lesson would be held they walked past the hourglasses in the great hall. They weren't surprised to see that Slytherin had passed Gryffindor and Hufflepuff and was now sitting just 3 points behind Ravenclaw with 31 points.

Neville's Herbology lesson was mindless and dull he did however manage to add another two points to Slytherins total by the end of the lesson and Eva managed to add a third as well.

DADA with Milstead aside, the lesson Albus had been most looking forwards too was Transfiguration. He also wasn't entirely surprised to see that the majority of his class also seemed to be excited as when he arrived to class, 15 minutes early, he was one of the last students there. Every desk had a piece of parchment sitting on it but the teacher was nowhere to be seen.

The air of excitement quickly dissipated when Professor Dippet arrived ten minutes late. She was a mousy haired, pale, thin and weak looking witch. She limped her way up to the desk in front of the class. Once she saw that everyone's eyes were on her she mumbled, "Wands… Wands… Away… Just textbook today… Chapter one… Read it… Read it again… Take notes… Names on your parchment… Begin."

The entire two hour class consisted of nothing but reading from their textbooks and writing notes. Naturally the students began to talk amongst themselves but Dippet didn't seem to mind. Once the bell had rang to signal the end of her lesson she simply waved her wand, all the parchment flew up and into her bag she had slung over her shoulder. She walked off without a single word to any of the first years.

* * *

After final lesson he trudged his way back to the Slytherin common room with Scorpius and TK. "Well that was a disappointing end to the day after how well it started," TK said, "How fantastic was it seeing Stapleton sprawled on the ground like that Al. Bloody Brilliant."

"Yeah, it was fantastic." Albus started, "Hey! I just thought, the game between Montrose and Bristol is on in a few weeks time. I should get us all tickets."

"But that game will sell out Albus, there is no way we will get tickets to it."

"I think I will be able to get us some, hang on" Albus ran up too his room where his owl Morgana was perched on the windowsill.

Al grabbed his quill out of his bag and some parchment and he began to write.

_Mr Doolan,_

_Hey, It is Albus. Just wondering if it would be possible to get any tickets to the upcoming game against the Magpies. I know it is sold out, but I thought you might have a few seats left over. If you were able to get me 3 tickets to the game that would be perfect._

_Albus S. Potter_

Albus folded the letter up and popped it into a small envelope before tying it onto Morgana's leg petting her on the head and going back downstairs.

Scorpius, TK and Albus headed down to the great hall early for dinner. When they entered the room Al saw that luckily Eva was sitting with Mia Crick and Rog Silvera. "You to go ahead," he told Scorpius and TK, "I have to talk to Eva."

Al walked over next to where Eva was sitting and sat next to her. "Hi… Umm," He started, "Professor Milstead asked if he could see us after we finish eating tonight."

"Oh, what does he want?"

"I don't know, just said he had to see us."

"Ok, I will see you there then."

"Thanks." Albus mumbled before he quickly stood up and walked back over too Scorpius and TK.

"Hey Albus look at this." Scorpius was holding a copy of the Daily Prophet.

"What does it say?"

"Someone has gone missing in Hogsmeade. It was Fidelus Budge."

"The man who runs the Apothecary?"

"The best one," Scorpius reply, "His was so popular that the Malfoy Apothecary was forced to close. He always had the best and most rare ingredients. He also was one of the best people in the world at brewing Felix Felicis."

"Felix Felicis?" Albus inquired.

"Liquid luck, makes anyone who takes it extremely lucky whilst the effects last. That is nothing though, he is also the only person in Europe who can source boomslang skin."

"So what?" Tk asked, "It is just a potions ingredient. Who cares?"

"But it is an extremely rare and valuable ingredient. I think that whoever it is that kidnapped Budge is doing it for the boomslang skin. Whoever kidnapped him is making polyjuice potion. Whoever kidnapped him wants to disguise themselves as someone else." Scorpius declared.

After skimming the article Albus quickly shovelled in as much food as he could, said goodbye to his friends and headed to Professor Milsteads office.

* * *

Eva had got down to the office before Albus and had taken a seat in front of Milsteads desk, "Good, good," Milstead started, "My two exceptional first years. I trust that Herbology and Transfiguration were absolutely invigorating."

Albus went to tell him how boring they were but he looked up and saw that Milstead was chuckling to himself.

"Professor Longbottom is a good man and a great teacher, unfortunately he often forgets that most of us don't find his plants as exciting as he does. Poor Mary Dippet unfortunately is a powerful witch but has become an incompetent teacher. She was brilliant once, before the war. That can't be helped unfortunately. Luckily for you however, hopefully as of today she is no longer a teacher for either of you."

Al looked to the door where Headmistress McGonogall was standing. She began to speak, in a voice that was stern but also you could sense a trace of friendliness behind her strict tones, "So these are our two first years that were able to perform a shield charm Avery."

"Yes Minerva. Mr Potter actually succeeded on his first try and Miss Armit pulled it off a half hour later."

"That is advanced magic Avery, not intended for first years. I hear you had Mr Potter and Mr Stapleton duel in class. This is why you no longer have your position at the ministry."

"I didn't have them duel. I taught them how to cast one simple jinx and how to protect yourself. Albus just happened to be a faster learner than the other kid."

"I am sure you had no reason to suspect this to be the case when you put them together?"

"I might have had some suspicions yeah."

"You might have had some suspicions?" McGonogall's voice was no longer kind and stern, it was now just loud and angry, "You stupid fool! Endangering the lives of our first years! Making them cast spells at each other that they had never even used before! What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking," Milstead's voice had remained cold and calm, "That I was allowed to teach my students defence in a way that I deemed appropriate. No one should ever have been in any danger, it was simply the knock-back jinx."

"The knock-back jinx?" The Headmistress said surprised, "But all of the students in that class said that Stapleton was thrown across the room and into the wall."

"He was."

"I will see them both during their Transfiguration lessons. I trust you will be able to see that they know where my office is? I will ensure that the gargoyles allow them to enter. If any more of my students get hurt in your class Avery, I will have to investigate it."

Suddenly her voice returned to her stern, but kind tone when he turned to Albus and Eva with a small smile on her face, "I look forward to meeting you properly during your next Transfiguration lesson."

Once she had left Professor Milstead talked to them both, "You two will be working together without my help in my class. You will not be doing the same thing as the rest of your classmates and I am paid to help teach them. You will work ahead and when we come here, I am thinking three times a week, I will teach you everything you need to know. Lets begin."

Professor Milstead began to teach them lots of different things, he taught them how to make things levitate, how to conjure small birds, how to turn a matchstick into a needle, how to summon water into a goblet he had brought with him. He talked about some of the properties of the ingredients they would use in potions and how they all interacted with each other. At 7 o'clock Milstead stopped.

"I believe there is a celebration in the common room about to begin," Milstead said, "We will continue this at this time tomorrow."

Before Albus left he asked Professor Milstead about the kidnapped potioneer. Professor Milstead seemed pretty worried about it though he tried not to show it, "Albus, the Budge family have always been rather unusual. Even for potioneers. It is quite possible Fidelus has simply decided to go and hide away somewhere to work on his potions without interruption."

"So," Al asked, "You don't think it had anything to do with the boomslang skin?"

"That is a possibility I have considered. I think if he has been taken that would be the most likely cause. Just trust your dad Albus, he is looking into it, he is very good at his job."

* * *

Albus made his way up to the Slytherin common room where the celebration was just beginning. All of the couches that usually littered the room were gone and Albus found it hard to believe how spacious the room was without them.

Music was being played from a record that was in the closest corner to the door. Cam had gone down to the kitchens and got the house-elves to bring up food for them. Now he was standing next to a big wooden board that went the whole way along one side of the common room. It was called the Green wall and listed on it were the names and numbers of every player that had ever played for the Slytherin house team in silver writing. There was a smaller amount of names that were written in green that, due to the fact Cam was one of them, Albus guessed were the people who had Captained the team.

Each player had to walk over in order, say their name and number and tap their wand on the board and they would appear on the board in the next slot. Any person who ever played a game for Slytherin was on it and any person who ever was a student of Slytherin house would be able to see it. Seeing as Albus was the first player amongst the new players to be selected Albus was the first person to go up.

Everyone formed a guard of honour for the players and clapped Albus on the back as he made his way to the board. Once he had reached the board Albus said, "Number 2543 Albus Severus Potter." And tapped his wand onto the slot that Cam had indicated.

In shiny silver text '_2543 Albus Severus Potter'_ appeared where his wand had touched. Once he was on the board the room began cheering and applauding.

This continued until each of the 5 players had put their names on the board. Once the process was over the players were told to go and change into their Quidditch robes and the reserves into their regular school clothes. Once everyone was dressed a team photo was taken of the team and reserves in front of the board and an individual photo was taken of each new member pointing to his name on the Green Wall. Each player was given their own copies of each and a large copy of the team photo was hung above the fireplace.

Once the photos had all been taken Albus snuck off to his dorm to write another letter to his parents. He was surprised to see that his owl Morgana had returned with a response from Jacob.

_Albus Potter,_

_I heard about the selection for your house team. It is important that you and Cam work together to bring some success for your House, Cam has always struggled to deal with the lack of help that has been available to him, in spite of his spectacular individual performances, so make sure you work well with him in these years you are together. We hope the teamwork and friendship you build throughout the next two years will be an asset for your house and for the Bristol Banshees in the future._

_I have enclosed 4 tickets to the game against Montrose in two weekends time, they are in the box where me and some of the board members of the Bristol Banshees will actually be seated for this game. Only 3 of these tickets are for you, I would appreciate it if you would pass one of the tickets to Cam's younger brother so he can join us._

_I await your opening game at Hogwarts with bated breath, I will be in attendance and I expect nothing short of a spectacular performance from you. As well as a win for Slytherin house._

_Look forward to speaking at the Montrose game,_

_Jacob Doolan _

_G.M & D.O_

_Bristol Banshees_

_BIQL_

Once he had read the letter from Jacob he put it in the draw of his dresser and began to write a letter to his parents and Lily.

_Mum, Dad and Lily,_

_First day of lessons wasn't too bad. I managed to earn 32 points for Slytherin. We have moved to second in the house cup now._

_Professor Milstead made us learn Protego and Flipendo on our first day, Headmistress McGonogall seemed to think that was ridiculous. Only me and a muggle-born girl pulled it off though so that was really good. We are both being made to do separate lessons with both Milstead and McGonogall instead of the regular DADA and Transfiguration classes._

_I got tickets off of Jacob to the Montrose game for me and my new friends TK and Scorp._

_Hope you are all doing well,_

_Al_

After popping the photos into the envelope Albus tied the letter to Morganas leg and sent her off again.

Once Scorpius and TK made it up to the room Al held out the tickets in front of them, "Look what I have got!" he said laughing at the looks on their faces.

"How did you get that many?" Scorpius asked incredulously.

"It is a secret. But only three are for us. The other is for Cam's little brother."

"I thought the Malfoys were well connected, but when I asked dad to try and track down tickets a few days ago he said it had been completely sold out for almost a month."

"Yeah, I think it has been."

"How can you get tickets to literally the most anticipated match played in England since we last hosted the World Cup in 94 and just act like it is no big deal?"

Albus just laughed at Scorpius and TK, gave them and Rog their tickets and went to bed.


End file.
